Uber Self-Driving Car Demonstrates Human-Like Flaws in Accident

Robots might be as lead-footed as humans, it seems. Uber’s self-driving car got into an accident on Friday at an intersection in Tempe, Arizona.

After the crash last week, the ride-sharing company’s autonomous vehicles took a brief pause to assess what happened. Although the crash involved a human driver at the other accident, eyewitnesses confirmed Uber’s self-driving vehicle was at fault, Bloomberg reports.

As the traffic light turned yellow, Uber’s Volvo SUV was struck by a Honda coming from the opposite direction as it was trying to make a left turn through the intersection, according to those accounts.

In a police report, the Honda driver Alexandra Cole said she thought the lane was clear and started to turn when Uber’s Volvo SUV, in autonomous mode at the time, came “flying through the intersection.”

“It was the other driver’s fault for trying to beat the light and hitting the gas so hard,” a witness told police in a statement. “The other person just wanted to beat the light and kept going.”

Human analysis aside, the crash demonstrates potential flaws Uber and the rest of the autonomous vehicle industry need to examine.